Orbit Chain

Orbit

Tornado Cash

Tornado

The exploiter behind the $82 million Orbit Chain hack over New Year’s Eve has moved $47.7 million to cryptocurrency privacy mixer Tornado Cash after five months of “silence.”
A total of 12,932 Ether (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price">ETH</a>)&nbsp;— worth $47.7 million — was moved across seven transactions on June 8 to a new address, which sent the funds to crypto mixer Tornado Cash,&nbsp;<a href="https://platform.arkhamintelligence.com/explorer/entity/orbit-chain-exploiter" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">according</a> to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.
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 <img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-06/d0c8152e-6d82-43ae-ba73-67061e436a9a.png" alt="" title="">
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 Transfers made by the Orbit Chain hacker on June 8. Source: Arkham Intelligence
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It was widely reported that the exploit caused $82 million in losses, but Arkham’s recent posts suggest it was closer to $100 million.
“They stole over $100M in ETH and DAI from Orbit Chain 5 months ago, and have been silent since,” Arkham — one of the first firms to spot the transfer — <a href="https://x.com/ArkhamIntel/status/1799473217326707106" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">said</a> in a June 8 X post. 
The $47.7 million in Ether sent through Tornado Cash were mostly in batches of 100 ETH, Etherscan data <a href="https://etherscan.io/txs?a=0x84bfa13778954ed29db486fd2ef9acc7ba24773f&amp;p=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">shows.</a>
The hacker didn’t move the stolen $20 million in Dai (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/dai-price-index">DAI</a>) or other coins extracted from the cross-chain bridge.
Their <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/orbit-bridge-hack-pushes-december-crypto-losses-100m">balance now stands at $71.2 million</a>,&nbsp;including $51.1 million in Ether and small amounts of wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), wrapped Ether (wETH), Orbit Chain (ORC) and USD Coin (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/usdc-price-index">USDC</a>).
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 Source: Arkham Intelligence
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The <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/cross-chain-protocol-orbit-bridge-suffers-exploit-hack">hack occurred in the final hours of 2023</a> at about 8:52 pm UTC on Dec. 31, 2023.
Orbit Chain <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/orbit-chain-confirms-hack-warns-of-scam-repayment-offers">confirmed the exploit</a> the following day and said it was “actively engaging” with international law enforcement agencies.
“Those who provide decisive intelligence that leads to identifying the attacker or recovering stolen assets will receive the bounty,” Orbit Chain’s X account <a href="https://x.com/Orbit_Chain/status/1745331289098711041" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">said</a> on Jan. 11.
“As a maximum reward, we are offering $8M USD.”
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sonne-finance-pause-20m-crypto-hack">$20M exploit cripples Sonne Finance, hacker in no mood for negotiation</a>
Orbit Chain implements the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/explained/inter-blockchain-communication-ibc-protocol-explained">Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol</a> to transfer data and value throughout the Cosmos ecosystem.
There is nearly $37 million in total value locked on the chain, <a href="https://defillama.com/protocol/orbit-bridge#information" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">according</a> to DefiLlama.
However, that figure is down over 75% from the $149.25 in value locked on the protocol hours before the Dec. 31, 2023 hack.
It reached a peak of $313 million in August 2022.
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 Total value locked on the Orbit Bridge since August 2022. Source: DeFiLlama
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Hackers <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-hacks-2024-private-key-leaks">stole $542.7 million in cryptocurrencies</a> in the first quarter of 2024, a 42% increase from the same period in 2023.
Interestingly, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/explained/reentrancy-attacks-in-smart-contracts-explained">smart contract hacks</a> fell 92% to $179 million in 2023, down from a staggering $2.6 billion in 2022.
Magazine:&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/defis-billion-dollar-secret-the-insiders-responsible-for-hacks/">DeFi’s billion-dollar secret: The insiders responsible for hacks</a>

Orbit Chain hacker moves $48M to Tornado Cash after months of ‘silence’

Cointelegraph

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